He finally got to the folding chair up front.
He slowly opened his scuffed violin case.
He took out his violin slowly.
He seemed off key as he tried a few sounds.
The title of my homily for this 1st Friday of Advent is, “Three
Blind Mice.”
I want to preach on the theme of blindness.
Why?
Well, because that’s what hit me when I read today’s first reading and
noticed the phrase from Isaiah 29:18: “the eyes of the blind shall see.” Then I read today’s gospel from Matthew 9:
27-31 about the two blind men who cried out to Jesus as he passed by, “Son of
David, have pity on us.”
TWO BLIND MICE -
THREE BLIND MICE
Because Matthew talks about two blind men, I began wondering about the
nursery rhyme, “Two Blind Mice.”
I looked it on Google only to discover that the nursery rhyme is, “Three
Blind Mice.”
Uh oh!
I did find mention of a play on Broadway from 1949 - entitled, “Two
Blind Mice.” It was about 2 women who ran a government
office - the U.S. Government Office of Medicinal Herbs. It was cut by Congress -
but not for these ladies - who kept it going for 4 more years - raising money
from renting rooms and parking down below. They simply never answered the
phone. It played from March 2, till July
16, 1949. It failed and folded - because as someone said, Samuel Spewack wrote
and directed the whole thing. and was blind to any other suggestions.
Then I looked 3 Blind Mice and found that Wikipedia report very interesting.
Let me read - I can’t sing - the Nursery Rhyme, “Three Blind Mice.”
Three
blind mice. Three blind mice.
See
how they run. See how they run.
They
all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who
cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did
you ever see such a sight in your life,
As
three blind mice?
Like many of these nursery rhymes, there are various theories about
their meaning. Is this one a dig at some king or queen? Is this one all about
life?
At times we are like mice - running around - dashing from here to there
with great fear? Are we like the
farmer’s wife - who like many folks - are scared of mice - but at times we have
to face our fears and cut their tails off.
Is this a parable about Queen Mary who had 3 Bishops who were protesting
against the Catholic Church blinded? In reality they were burnt to death. Is
this about Protestants being blind? Supposedly this Queen Mary got the name, Bloody
Mary - because under her queenship 280 to 300 protesters were killed.
Such theories exist. Queen Elizabeth who followed her had some Catholics
killed - but far fewer. Henry VIII had a lot more killed than Queen Mary. During
his 37 year reign 57,000 to 72,000 were executed. Some think these numbers are
an exaggeration.
BLINDNESS
I choose this topic because it gets at the issue of blindness.
I choose it because it gets me to the story of the 2 blind men in
today’s gospel.
These 2 men have a great prayer; “Son of David, have pity on us.”
It’s important to recognize and to state that we all need to take pity
on ourselves and each other - that we are blind.
Listen to people. We’re all off on how blind, how stupid, others can be.
They don’t know how to park. Then don’t know how to drive. They don’t use their
turn signals. They are selfish, deaf, dumb and blind.
There is help. We can change. We can grow. We can learn to see. We can say this because we have more than our
eyes. We also have our mouth and our ears here on our head. They call all be
used to communicate with each other. To ask others, “What are you seeing?
What’s your opinion? What’s your take on this?”
Then to listen to each other - to see other’s view points - viewing
reasoning.
TWO BLIND MEN
I also noticed that Matthew when he talks about blind men, he has two
scenes in his gospel about blind men calling out. Check out Matthew 9: 27 and
Matthew 20:30. There is another scene when Matthew talks about 1 blind man:
Matthew 12:22.
In Mark, Luke and John, it’s only 1 blind man. And they use the pronoun I and me!
Check out Mark 8:22 and 10:46 and Luke 18:35 and John 9.
Matthew is later than Mark, so I wondered if Matthew has an agenda here
about community versus individuals. We instead of me.
CONCLUSION
Let me come with a conclusion.
After admitting I, we are blind - like 3 blind mice - to pray the prayer
of the 2 blind men in today’s gospel, “Son of David, have pity on us!”
To take a rosary and say that prayer on each of the 59 beads, “Son of
David! Have pity on us.”
Or just the last part, “Have pity on us.”
Or the prayer of Bartimeus - “Lord, that I might see.”
Ooops change it to: “Lord, that we might see.”
December 4, 2015
WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE
Water: oceans, lakes, rivers….
Water: 71 % of the earth.
Water: there is a saltwater ecosystem and a freshwater ecosystem with varing amounts of salt and nutrients - fish and plants in these waters.
Water: glimmer, shake, waves,
but sometimes stillness - able
to hold boats afloat and fish
below. Water: we might be the only "best bet" water planet, so we better watch what we do with our waters - lest we kill
what is giving us life along with the air, sun and soil. Human beings self destruct - they commit suicide - so we better be careful on how we use our water.
Snow - not yet this year - now that would slow us down ….
Slowly Mary and Joseph arrive by donkey ….
And Christ appears in our world …. ready or not.
And the Mass in the word Christmas - becomes “Oh! Now I get it."
WHAT'S WITH YOUR NAME?
Painting of St. Andrew
the Apostle,
by Artus Wolffort,
1581-1641
The title of my homily for this feast of St. Andrew the Apostle is, "What's With Your Name?" At the beginning of the baptismal ceremony for a baby, the priest or deacon asks the parents, "What name do you give your child?" I always like to ask, "Is there a special reason for this name?" "Is there a grandparent with that name or what have you?" In other words, "Why this name?" Basically I'm asking, "What's With Your Name?" Hence: the title of this homily. Sometimes parents just like the sound of the name - like yesterday - I baptized a little baby girl: "Serena." It was Serena Cassandra. Serena as in serene. Nice. I once read: when picking the name of a child, go out on the back porch and scream, "Serena ... or Charlie ... get in here." If it sounds right, go for it. TODAY - NOVEMBER 30th Today, November 30th, is the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle. Every year on this day folks say to me, "Happy Feast Day." I used to say, "I wasn't named after St. Andrew the Apostle, but St. Andrew Avellino - because I was born on his feast day." I just say, "Thank you." Lucky for me, I like the name Andrew. I'm glad I didn't get Avellino for a middle name.
Yet I like St. Andrew Avellino. And I didn't like that he was dumped from the church calendar and replaced by St. Leo - the Great - a pope. So I prefer St. Andrew Avellino over Pope Leo - even though Leo got the added title - "The great." St. Andrew Avellino was an Italian priest and preacher and writer. His dates were 1521 to 1608. He's the Patron Saint of Naples and Sicily. Our founder of the Redemptorists - St. Alphonsus Liguori was a big Neapolitan Saint. Moreover, Alphonsus like St. Andrew Avellino - was both a canon and civil lawyer. St. Alphonsus started the Redemptorists in 1732 - and in 1731 - the letters of St. Andrew Avellino were published in Naples. If you read St. Alphonsus, you'll notice that he liked to quote Andrew Avellino. ANDREW JACKSON
Next at my baptism my dad added to that Andrew, the name, "Jackson" - the 7th president of the United States - and the guy on the 20 dollar bill. Andrew triggered Jackson.... He told me there was a story that was heard from the pulpits in Ireland while growing up - that the 7th president of the United States - would have been Catholic - if there were more priests from Ireland who would have gone to Southern United States. Not enough went, so many Irish Catholics lost their Catholic faith as a result. I've thought at times, "Maybe I should have asked to work in the south. I had asked to go to Brazil - but didn't get that. Would have I been stationed in our Richmond vice province if I had asked to go there?" BACK TO ST. ANDREW THE APOSTLE Now, even though I like St. Andrew Avellino, I do like the apostle Andrew. But the gospel story I like is from the Gospel of John - not the one I just read from the Gospel of Matthew. In Matthew he's with his brother Peter and Jesus walks along the edge of the Lake of Galilee and calls these 2 brothers to come with Jesus to fish for people. In the Gospel of John, he's the one who meets Jesus first and asks Jesus some questions - hangs with Jesus for a while - and the next day says to his brother Peter, "We have found the messiah. Let me bring you to meet him." I like to see Andrew as the patron saint of bringing people to Jesus. I want to do that with my life. I like to hear in people's conversion story about how someone at work or some stranger - got some person - to come to Jesus. That would be enough. CONCLUSION Today on the Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle I'm asking you, "What's with your name? Why did those who named you, choose your name?" I'd also challenge all of us to bring people to Jesus like St. Andrew the Apostle did. Amen.
